Otome, Anime & Manga

Goblin Slayer Episode 10.5 – The Dreaded Recap Episode

Before reading this post I’ll have to redirect you to a video to set the tone. Open up a new tab, head to Youtube and type in ‘Michael Scott no’. It should be the first result – a 10 second video. Now with that playing, join me as I scream into the abyss.

For the last week, Goblin Slayer viewers have been anticipating episode eleven of the series. Why? The anime skipped over a massive arc featured in the manga and light novel, and fans have long speculated it would be featured in the series’ end. Our prayers were answered at the end of episode ten, when a final shot did indeed hint towards the arc. So we waited. For a whole week we waited. But what we got was no epic fight scene, no great story and no new animation. Instead we got the much dreaded ‘recap episode’.

Having had a quick look online, it seems recap episodes are usually thrown in if a production studio is having time management issues. Essentially they need something as a stop gap so they’ll have an extra week to work on the episode that should have been released. So I’m not 100% against these recap episodes, and sometimes they’re even welcomed. If a series is particularly convoluted with 101 characters to remember – I relish a recap episode to reorient myself. But this recap episode was not only useless and poorly timed, it was poorly done

First up, Goblin Slayer is not a particularly difficult anime to follow. A guy is going around killing goblins, and only goblins. That’s about as much as you need to know plot-wise. Secondly, who in their right mind would put a recap episode just before a major finale? I can imagine a recap being slotted in mid-way through a series, but seriously just before the final two episodes? Why throw away all that tension build up and anticipation!?

As far as recap episodes go, this one was pretty darn lazy. There was no new information, no new scenes and no new perspective. Heck the episode could have been alright if it was a recap episode purely from Cow Girl’s perspective, but no, it was just a mish-mash of scenes put together into something kind of coherent. For example, the worst and most ridiculous part of this recap, is that the last five minutes of it is the exact same as the last five minutes of last week’s episode. Overall, this recap just screamed lazy, I would have preferred a gag episode or heck, even no episode at all.

However, as disappointing as this week was, we still have next week’s exciting first part of the finale coming up. I can’t wait to see how they animate the skipped arc and what will happen to all the characters – will we be left heartbroken or excited for their future? I can’t imagine anymore hiccups coming our way, so it should be smooth sailing, at least on the viewer’s side.

What did you think about the random recap episode? Let me know in the comments!

On seeing it was a recap episode I started skipping through it just to see if there would be any new material. About three minutes later I closed the window and moved on. I get that they sometimes need recap episodes for production reasons, or just to pad the episode count without bloating the story, but the timing of this one and the sheer lack of effort put into it was pretty sad.

Recaps can be good but yeah, from what you write it seems like I didn’t miss anything by not watching it. It sucks that they toss in this recap now, I was so hyped for the continuation of those little foot steps.

I did think it odd timing for a recap. Thanks for providing more insight into the possible causes. I did watch the episode and did not regret it, though I’d be hard pressed to tell anyone it’s a must see.